This movie is gonna be too god damn epic to not already have an official thread on boxingscene, seriously. Christopher Nolan is ATG.

Inception's Tom Hardly reportedly cast in top secret role.

And Batman's next villain might be ... The Forger?

Deadline reports that English actor Tom Hardy, 33, has been cast in an unnamed "lead role" in Batman 3. Hardy previously worked with Bat-director Christopher Nolan in this summer's Inception.

"Insiders are keeping the role secret and won't even say if he's up for a villain role, but that seems a reasonable assumption," according to the site. Rumors swirled in August that Hardy was under consideration for the role of Riddler.

In an interview with Empire magazine, director Christopher Nolan was asked whether or not the character of The Joker would be returning in his new Batman movie, despite Heath Ledger's untimely death. "No," said Nolan, without hesitating. "I just don't feel comfortable talking about it." Rumours claimed that The Joker would appear in shadow while behind bars at Arkham Asylum, some suggesting Heath's face would be partially recreated in CG, some that he'd be recast. But Nolan sounds like he's not joking, period.

Is Two-Face really dead?

At the end of The Dark Knight, Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent takes a tumble and Batman nobly takes the blame, becoming an outcast in the process. But is Dent really as dead as he looked? He's not moving, but it's not explicitly stated that he dies and his funeral would be necessary to cover up his dirty deeds. Is there a chance Two-Face might rise again? "I think Harvey — if he's not dead — is in a serious coma," said actor Aaron Eckhart, "and I'm not sure he's coming out. They might pull the plug on him." Hmm…

Will Batman team up with Robin?

Outlook: not so good. The inclusion of Robin to the previous Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, are generally considered to be the tipping point when the franchise went from 'gothic underworld' to 'gay disco'. There are rumblings that the Boy Wonder may pop up in a cameo, but Christian Bale for one certainly won't be happy: "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work." So that's that.

Will we see a new version of The
Penguin?

A while back, Michael Caine shocked reporters by claiming a Warner Bros executive had told him that Johnny Depp had signed on to play The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman was confirmed to play The Penguin. It's twaddle, of course, but it got people thinking about whether a new take on The Penguin could work. Hoffman was dismissive ("No one has talked to me about it, ever – never") but a rich and twisted businessman villain could work well in Nolan's Batman universe – as long as they lose the flippers.

What's the story?

We've spoken much about characters and villains, but little about actual plot, the reason being that writers Chris Nolan, his brother Jonathan and David S Goyer are all hard at work on the screenplay now and are keeping their cards close to their chest. However, there's traction on rumours that the third and final part of this Batman trilogy will be based in some part on Frank Miller's graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns, which sees a middle-aged Batman come out of retirement to fight crime. Different, but it could happen.